Financial Times: Crossrail article
Volterra has been instrumental in developing the economic case for Crossrail, the proposed cross London rail link connecting Heathrow, the West End, the City and Canary Wharf. Our latest report, “The Costs of Delay”, was reported in the Financial Times on the 27th March. The article repeated the estimates of £1.5billion losses per year due to lost user benefits; planning blight; construction cost inflation; and lost wider economic benefits. The article was followed by the leader “London waits and waits for Crossrail” which advocated the importance of Crossrail for the capital.
Medieval historian working with Volterra Consulting
A medieval historian is joining Volterra for a year under a prestigious academic fellowship scheme. The Knowledge Transfer Scheme is open to all arts and humanities academic departments in the UK. Dr Andrew Roach of the University of Glasgow and Volterra have won one of the 8 awards granted for next academic year. Andrew has already collaborated with Paul Ormerod on applying social network theory to illuminate episodes in history, such as why Protestantism spread so rapidly in England during the mid-16th century. At Volterra, he will be transferring his skills in extracting information from source material. This will enhance the social network models we build in areas such as consumer and financial markets.
Budget 2007: Bridget gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee
Bridget gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee investigation into the Chancellor’s recent Budget. She focused on how hard it was to gain a coherent overall picture of the Budget measures from either the speech or the report. Although the Budget was presented as giving money back to families, on balance it actually took money out of the economy. In addition, she drew attention to the underlying growth of the public sector, which is one of the main reasons for an apparently smoother economic performance. Private sector employment is no higher now than it was in the early 1970s. Click here to view the report. The transcript is also available at www.publications.parliament.uk.
Strutt & Parker Economic Newsletter
For our long standing client Strutt & Parker, Volterra produce a quarterly Economic Newsletter, focusing on the macro economic outlook, along with a specific focus on commercial property. The March issue looks at the prospects for inflation and interest rate rises in the UK before turning to the most unresolved of macroeconomic problems; current account imbalances across the world and how they might unwind. Following the recent Strutt and Parker ‘Prospects for Property 2007’ conference, at which Bridget Rosewell presented, the outlook for commercial property in 2007 is also discussed. Click here for the latest issue of the Economic Newsletter.
Networks 2.0
Ellie Cooper spoke at the launch event of KnowledgeLondon on 27th March. KnowledgeLondon is a network for knowledge transfer practitioners working in the London area. She gave an overview of modelling in the field of Social Networks. She discussed the importance of the structure of a social network on the way in which ideas may spread through it. She also described how Volterra have applied these insights to develop models for testing policies in a broad range of areas. Click here for the slides.
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